The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime: (True Crime Gift)

By Mitzi Szereto

Dive Deep Into the Crime Stories of Criminal Couples

"You’ll love this book and the stories of devious partnerships that ended in mayhem and murder!” ―Bob Batchelor, cultural historian and author of The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition’s Evil Genius

#1 New Release in Hoaxes & Deceptions, Memoirs of Criminals, and Forensic Psychology

From harrowing heists to murderous mayhem, this collection of true crime stories will have you on the edge of your seat as you discover exactly why two criminal minds are scarier than one—especially when they belong to lovers.

Discover Infamous Legends and Lesser-Known Criminals and find out why they have become solidified in true crime history. From Ted Bundy to Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killers and other criminals often work alone. But when they’re in a relationship, this isn’t always the case. Acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto brings us a collection that proves that two is better than one when it comes to murder, mischief, and mayhem.

From Serial Killers to Your Average Joes. This chilling new collection of original crime stories takes you into the lawless and deadly activities of criminal couples who find more pleasure in crime than in each other. Featuring contributions from an international list of award-winning crime writers, journalists, and experts in the dark crimes field, The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime is a must-read for any true crime addict.

If you enjoy true crime books such as The Perfect Father, American Predator, The Devil You Know, or The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns then you’ll love The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime.

THE BEST NEW TRUE CRIME STORIES: PARTNERS IN CRIME
Contributors include Cathy Pickens, Joan Renner, Paul Willetts, Jason Half, and Morgan Barbour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mango
• Release date: Jan 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781642507614

Mitzi Szereto

Mitzi Szereto is an internationally acclaimed author and anthology editor of fiction and nonfiction books spanning multiple genres. She has written numerous novels within her The Best True Crime Stories series. She's also written crime fiction, gothic fiction, horror, cozy mystery, satire, sci-fi/fantasy, and general fiction and nonfiction. Her anthology, Erotic Travel Tales 2, is the first anthology of erotic fiction to feature a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Mitzi's Web TV channel "Mitzi TV" has attracted an international audience. The Web series segments have ranged from chats with Tiff Needell, Jimmy Choo, and her ursine sidekick, Teddy Tedaloo. Other on-screen credits include Mitzi portraying herself in the pseudo-documentary British film, "Lint: The Movie." She maintains a blog of personal essays at "Errant Ramblings: Mitzi Szereto's Weblog." To learn more about Mitzi follow her on Twitter and Instagram @mitziszereto or visit her website at mitziszereto.com.

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Praise for The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime

"The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime, edited by Mitzi Szereto, is a terrific anthology volume of love stories gone very, very bad. That is to say, the amorous partners in these true accounts become criminals with sinister and deadly results. Written by award-winning and critically acclaimed authors from around the globe, the stories are fast-paced and exciting. It is full of thrills and chills for everyone. This volume is a wonderful addition to the true crime genre, and I highly recommend it."

—Scott Bonn, PhD, criminologist, author, and producer

"If you like true crime with something extra, The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime delivers. The crimes and criminals are compelling enough, but what sets these tales apart is the attention to setting and social milieu. Each crime is a product of its time and place, and context is enriched by digressions into the deprivations of wartime London, the pros and cons of using strychnine vs. arsenic on sheep farms in New Zealand, and a British version of The Americans featuring an antiquarian bookseller and his amateur photographer wife. An altogether enjoyable and instructive romp."

—Stephanie Kane, crime writer

"Readers can’t get enough true crime and here comes another winner in Mitzi Szereto’s The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime. Gathering stories from some of the world’s best writers, Szereto puts together another page-turning collection, telling true crime tales of the wicked, wild, and wonderful. You’ll love this book and the stories of devious partnerships that ended in mayhem and murder!"

—Bob Batchelor, cultural historian and author of The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition’s Evil Genius

"When a human being decides to commit murder, that portion of society within their reach has a major problem. But when two killers are drawn together and decide to commit the unthinkable, cities, towns, and rural settings will soon find themselves in a living nightmare. And such is the case with The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime! Within these pages you’ll read about true-life murderers, as well as those who only haunt the chilling works of fiction, written by authors who understand well the mindset of the murderer. Read this book!"

—Kevin M. Sullivan, author of The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History

From Bittaker and Norris to Fred and Rosemary West, we are all too familiar with the deadly effects of partnerships in crime. The true crime stories in this collection range from wartime London to late-twentieth-century Australia, from noir narrative to a disquisition on the use of strychnine as a poison, but all of them focus on the evil that can arise when potential killers meet. Fascinating, shocking—and highly recommended.

—Danuta Kot, author of the East Riding series

Praise for The Best New True Crime Stories: Crimes of Passion, Obsession & Revenge

True crime fans hungering for juicy tales of hot-blooded murder will gobble up the offerings in this irresistibly page-turning collection.

—Harold Schechter, author of Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

A grand sweep through tales of an abused wife’s murderous revenge in Victorian-era Canada; a 1980 Brink’s robbery in San Francisco by an unfailingly polite, gay thief who adopts a new identity and squanders his fortune in a sybaritic lifestyle in New York before being arrested; a husband’s revenge murder of his adulterous wife in sexually licentious postwar England, leading to an unusual appeal to the House of Lords before he is hanged; the sensational 2012 ‘Facebook Murder’ in the Netherlands signaled by the online post ‘A Girl Dies Today at 3 p.m.’; and the sordid tale of Evelyn Nesbit, gorgeous salesgirl turned famed actress, and her role in a love triangle with a prominent New York architect and the railroad scion who murders him in a rage on the rooftop theater of Madison Square Garden. Headlines in the sensationalist New York newspapers scream of the ‘Trial of the Century’—but of course it’s only 1906, and the century is still quite young.

—Joe Sharkey, author of Above Suspicion

Szereto and her contributors’ dark stories and clean writing styles combine for a gripping read. Wonderful!

—Liza Rodman, author of The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer

What motivates people to kill and commit heinous crimes? Is it a snap decision or calculated, plotted, and sinister? There’s a whole lot of reasons, hence our endless intrigue about what goes on in the minds of criminals. This volume of crime cases edited by true crime queen Mitzi Szereto is a fascinating look at crimes where perpetrators let their rage and bad judgment take over. With historical crimes and more contemporary ones featured, it’s also interesting to see how our understanding of violence has evolved over the years.

—Emily Webb, cohost of Australian True Crime podcast and author of Angels of Death: Doctors and Nurses Who Kill

The true heart of darkness is in true crime. Crime fiction authors are an inventive bunch, but rarely have they created stories of passion, obsession, and revenge as compelling as these true accounts of what the passionate human heart and obsessive mind can make a person do. You may pity some of the killers in this collection; you may loathe others. But I guarantee you won’t forget them.

—Peter Guttridge, critic and crime fiction author

Praise for The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals

"Conjuring the spirits of Truman Capote and Damon Runyon (with the ghost of Patricia Highsmith looking on), the stories in The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals thrillingly depict real-life misdeeds throughout history. An Ecuadorian Robin Hood, an art scandal in Paris, new insights into the life and death of a Depression-era bootlegger—what’s not to love?"

—Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park

What a fantastic collection of spellbinding true crime stories from around the world! Each one is deeply researched, thoughtful, and fascinating. This anthology is simply good reading for any fan.

—Kate Winkler Dawson, author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI

Ever since E.W. Hornung—brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle—introduced the public in 1898 to his character A.J. Raffles, genteel, cricket-playing thief, the notion of the nonviolent criminal, from Robin Hood to Danny Ocean, has captured the public’s attention. No blood, no gore: just people trying to scrape a living off the earnings of others. In her latest compendium, Mitzi Szereto has brought together a terrifically readable collection of new and intriguing case histories, including John Dillinger’s bagman and Ching Shih, the nineteenth-century woman pirate of the South China Sea.

—J.P. Smith, author of If She Were Dead and The Summoning

This anthology’s contributors approach their subjects with the nuanced understanding of a historian or sociologist; rather than simply examining motive and opportunity, they consider factors such as historical backdrops, personality types, public perceptions, self-deception, gender, class, and inequality. VERDICT: A thought-provoking volume, with accounts that span continents and circumstances, that will appeal even to true crime fans who have seen it all.

—Library Journal

"Mitzi Szereto and a stellar group of authors bring us The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals. Real-life Robin Hoods, smooth-talking charmers and gentlemen robbers, and an unforgettable cast of criminal characters. True crime storytelling at its very best!"

—Dan Zupansky, author and host of True Murder

Readers have always been fascinated by charismatic criminals, from A.J. Raffles to Tom Ripley, and this anthology examines the nefarious activities of a very diverse bunch of their real-life counterparts.

—Martin Edwards, The Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger award-winning author of Mortmain Hall and The Golden Age of Murder

Mitzi has a diamond eye for a good story and assembles her anthologies like carefully crafted pieces of engineering, regardless of genre. An editor with the Midas touch.

—Maxim Jakubowski, editor of The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths

Praise for The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns

Here be monsters! This brilliant collection of gruesome small-town misdeeds spanning a century and four continents will have you running for the comfort and safety of the big city.

—Peter Houlahan, author of Norco ’80

An eye-opening excursion into the world of murder, often committed by the neighbors and friends of those who live in these small towns. Without question, it’s a book you won’t soon forget!

—Kevin M. Sullivan, author of Through an Unlocked Door: In Walks Murder

A well-curated and considered collection comprising some well-written essays/stories that explore the origins of each crime…. These stories get to the human cost behind the terrible events that suddenly vault a small town into the public gaze.

—Paul Burke, NB Magazine

These well-researched, globe-trotting, bite-sized tales are perfect for a lazy summer afternoon—especially at a time when it’s much safer to travel through the pages of a book.

—Dean Jobb, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Remember the saying ‘The devil is in the details’? Well, it’s small towns that deal in details as they unfold in scary, thrilling, and sometimes gruesome fashion. Mitzi Szereto’s new true crime anthology is filled with the devil and the details—great stories and fantastic writing. After reading this book, you will look at your neighbors in a whole new way…. Or, perhaps never again!

—Bob Batchelor, cultural historian and author of The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition’s Evil Genius

Mitzi Szereto has assembled a group of today’s brightest and best authors for this truly extraordinary anthology. Brilliant!

—Dan Zupansky, author and host of True Murder

A very thought-provoking compilation in the true-crime milieu.

—Gary Jenkins, mob author and host of the popular mob podcast, Gangland Wire

Praise for The Best New True Crime Stories: Serial Killers

This compelling collection of serial-killer stories is more than its beautifully told parts—it adds up to a clear and startling portrait of murder as an addiction and the very human demons that haunt the lives of killers and victims alike.

—Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz-Age New York

An engrossing and multi-faceted anthology for a new era of true crime writing. This fascinating collection goes beyond the procedural to raise important questions about how man’s darkest impulses both threaten and consume us—as individuals and as a culture.

—Piper Weiss, author of You All Grow Up and Leave Me

"The stories in The Best New True Crime Stories: Serial Killers provide insight into a compulsion that’s unfathomable to the average person. Can’t get enough true crime? This thought-provoking, highly readable collection will scratch that itch."

—Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger

True crime addicts will devour this book. The portraits of these psychopaths will mesmerize and horrify everyone who reads it.

—Aphrodite Jones, bestselling true crime author

Mitzi Szereto collects some of the day’s very best true crime writing focused on one (troubling, fascinating, compelling) strand of the crime world: serial killers.

—CrimeReads

Wonderfully written, these stories will take you on a journey that will chill you to the bone, horrify you, even terrify you, but it’s a journey you will be compelled to finish. Amazing book; one of the best true crime books I’ve read in a long time.

—Readers’ Favorite

Can’t get enough true crime stories? Anthologist Mitzi Szereto has put together a collection of short pieces about serial killers that will help to satisfy the needs of any true crime junkie…. This book will be a must-have for any fans of true crime literature.

—Manhattan Book Review

Chilling, very moving (those poor victims), but above all, essential reading.

—Peter Guttridge, critic and crime fiction author

From the virtually crime-free, ultra-respectable suburbs of Japan to the mean streets of South America where life is cheap; from the peaceful, but forever-tainted English cathedral town of Gloucester to a Native Indian Reservation in Minneapolis; from the fjords of Norway to the idyll of a Midwest farm in the USA, this book travels the world, examining the history and psychology of some of the world’s most gruesome serial killers.

—Robin Bowles, Australia’s true crime queen

Coral Gables

Copyright © 2022 by Mitzi Szereto.

Published by Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Publishing Group, Inc.

Art Direction: Elina Diaz

Cover Design: Katia Mena

Cover Photo/illustration: Stokkete/stock.adobe.com

Layout & Design: Elina Diaz

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The accounts in this book are true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. They may contain some speculation by the author(s) and opinions/analyses from psychology, criminology, and forensics experts. This book is offered without guarantee on the part of the editor, authors, or publisher. The editor, authors, and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

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The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021947312

ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-760-7, (ebook) 978-1-64250-761-4

BISAC category code TRU004000, TRUE CRIME / Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Mitzi Szereto

Humans, Not Monsters

C L Raven

A Long Way Down: Jeannace Freeman and Gertrude Jackson

Jason Half

Spies in Suburbia

Paul Williams

Flames of Passion: Arson as Aphrodisiac

Morgan Barbour

The Birnies: Australia’s Bonnie and Clyde

Anthony Ferguson

Whirlwind Romance

Paul Willetts

Ship Ahoy

Iris Leona Marie Cross

Anything for My Darling: Murder in the Name of Love

Marcus Lind

Ten Floors of Whores

Mitzi Szereto

The Crimes and Punishments of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

Nadine Bachan

Love and Strychnine in New Zealand

Cathy Pickens

If You Love Me, You’ll Kill Her

Tom Larsen

The Wages of Sin: The Ballad of Margie and Dale

Joan Renner

Poems about Murder and Love

Mathilde Stansky

A Whale of a Murder

Rachel Friedman

References

About the Editor

About the Contributors

Introduction

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

—Carl Jung

They say it takes two to tango. But what happens when that tango becomes a dance of murder and mayhem? We’ve all heard of infamous criminal twosomes such as early-twentieth-century American outlaws Bonnie and Clyde and mid-twentieth-century British serial-killing husband-and-wife team Fred and Rosemary West. Couples joining forces to commit crime isn’t a recent phenomenon. Though having a historical precedent for it doesn’t make it any less disturbing.

What makes two individuals in a relationship together suddenly decide to victimize others, even to the point of murder? Is it simply a case of like-minded souls being drawn toward each other? Or are these love stories gone awry? Often, we see a dominant partner in these relationships. The more submissive of the two leads an uneventful and crime-free life until the more forceful partner becomes involved. When that occurs, it’s common to find some level of coercion being used, incorporating abuse and control by one party over the other, an exercise of power over the weaker individual in the relationship. Yet there are also situations when this supposedly submissive partner might not be entirely pristine either. Said partner could be harboring an evil seed that has lain dormant, only to be brought out and cultivated by the more dominant of the pair. Of course, sometimes neither party has the courage to act on their criminal fantasies until they find each other—then it becomes open season on whomever they set their sights.

The crimes committed by these loved-up duos can range from the nonviolent variety, such as financial, where greed is a motivating factor, to those in which violence plays a starring role, be it sexual assault, kidnapping, or murder, with these violent crimes frequently involving all three elements. The crimes are often carefully planned out, at times even rehearsed. It could be something as basic (and common) as desiring to be rid of someone considered by one or both parties to be a nuisance, an obstacle to happiness, or perhaps a threat, be it friend, family member, or spouse. It might be more random and admittedly more sinister, such as the commission of a crime for fun, most commonly involving murder, in what has come to be known as the thrill kill.

Indeed, the thrill factor plays a key role in many of these criminal partnerships. In fact, there’s a scientific name for individuals who are sexually attracted to and aroused by someone who commits a crime: hybristophilia, with the more popular lay term being Bonnie and Clyde syndrome. It occurs more regularly in women than in men. Having a partner who has committed a crime such as armed robbery, rape, or murder acts as an aphrodisiac—and the more violent the crime, the more of a turn-on it seems to be. There are two forms of hybristophilia: passive, which involves fantasy and delusion rather than active participation in a crime; and aggressive, which involves the turned-on partner’s active participation, even if merely to help cover up a crime. There can be a variety of psychological complexities at play in these dysfunctional relationships.

It’s important to note that the dominant forces or masterminds behind these crimes aren’t always of the male variety. Although statistically (and perceptually) women do not commit as many violent crimes as their male counterparts, that doesn’t mean they don’t commit them or, for that matter, play the ringleader in their commission. There doesn’t even need to be a dominant force in these relationships. The parties might be equal partners in crime, with the co-offenders participating with the same level of enthusiasm, thereby deriving the same level of arousal or excitement. The dynamics of these relationships will keep psychologists busy for generations to come.

With that in mind, I’d like to welcome you to The Best New True Crime Stories: Partners in Crime, the fifth volume in my true crime franchise. You’ll read about criminal couples from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, and Trinidad and Tobago. Their stories are told by an accomplished group of writers, some of whom have appeared in earlier volumes of The Best New True Crime Stories and some who are new to the series. As with the previous books, these factual accounts have been written expressly for this collection. From wartime spies and financial opportunists to serial arsonists and thrill killers, the accounts on these pages showcase a variety of relationships gone horribly, and quite often terrifyingly, wrong.

Mitzi Szereto

Humans, Not Monsters

C L Raven

Pitch black vampire seeks princess of darkness who hates everything and everyone and has bidden farewell to life.

This was hardly a romantic lonely-hearts ad that would cause anyone to swipe right, but twenty-six-year-old Daniel Ruda wasn’t looking for romance. He was looking for someone whose twisted personality matched his own. Unfortunately, he found her, and their union would lead to murder.

Not much is known about Daniel’s childhood. As a teenager, he was diagnosed with mental health problems. In his early twenties, he joined the Neo-Nazi movement in his hometown. He targeted young, unemployed, and disenfranchised people in the underground scene, handing out free tickets for concerts whose lineups included Nazi bands. In 1998, the Rheinische Post discovered that he canvassed for the National Democratic Party of Germany, a far-right ultra-nationalist political party that the government has tried to outlaw. It was a successor to the German Reich Party, whose three deputy chairmen were Nazis. Daniel would convince others to wear swastikas for shock value, which helped spread the message of hatred.

After growing bored with the Neo-Nazi movement, Daniel drifted into the black-metal scene and joined a band called Bloodsucking Freaks. He filed his teeth into fangs and took part in consensual blood-drinking and so-called Satanic rituals.

His day job was as a car parts salesman.

It was Daniel’s ad in the lonely-hearts column of a German black-metal magazine in the autumn of 2000 that attracted twenty-three-year-old Manuela. Oddly, there is no mention of her maiden name in articles about her, despite extensive information about her background.

Manuela had an ordinary upbringing. She loved animals and grew up an only child of regular middle-class parents. She attended the German equivalent of a grammar school, which prepares students for university. Like Daniel, Manuela was also diagnosed as having mental health problems. When she was thirteen, she started biting passersby on the street and was sent to a psychiatrist. Despite receiving treatment, her mental health deteriorated. At age fourteen, she began suffering from auditory hallucinations and believed she was in contact with the devil. She left school. After that, she took a drug overdose. It’s not stated whether this was a genuine attempt to end her own life or a cry for help, but she survived.

At sixteen, Manuela left her hometown of Witten and traveled to the Scottish Highlands, where she got a job in a hotel. She loved the gloominess and emptiness of Skye and seemed to be happy there. She had read about a recluse named Tom Leppard, who lived in a hut by a lake on an island off Skye. She wrote to him, saying that she hated society and wanted to visit him. Tom was known locally as The Leopard Man of Skye, and prior to 2006, The Guinness Book of Records listed him as The Most Tattooed Person in the World. Later, he was recognized as The Most Tattooed Senior Citizen. His entire body was tattooed in leopard spots. Some claim that Manuela moved in with him and they had a sexual relationship. These rumors angered Tom, who was Catholic. Manuela visited when she was seventeen, and he described her as an ordinary teenager. Hundreds of tourists and backpackers visited Tom’s hut; she was no different to any of them. Afterward, they kept in touch, and Manuela’s parents thanked him for being her only friend. However, Tom said her letters to him started to change, becoming hate-filled and crude.

Manuela next moved to London, where she found work in a goth club in Islington. While working there, Manuela joined up with a group of people who worshipped the devil and attended bite parties. She would later tell the police that they slept on graves and drank blood from living people. She’d had two of her teeth replaced with canine fangs and learned how to suck blood from people’s necks without puncturing an artery. One night, the group dug a grave, and Manuela slept in it to see what it was like.

In 1998, she moved back to Witten. In 2000, she answered Daniel’s ad. A year later, they committed murder.

Manuela and Daniel became inseparable. Whereas most couples might share a love for traveling or animals, Manuela and Daniel shared a hatred for humanity and a lust for blood. They lived together in a flat in Bochum and spent holidays in England and Scotland, where they attended Satanic parties and slept in graveyards, much like Manuela did when she lived in the UK.

They married on June 6—the sixth day of the sixth month to honor the so-called number of the Beast.

One month later, on July 6, 2001, their marriage took a macabre turn with the murder of Frank Hackert. Thirty-three-year-old Frank was one of Daniel’s friends and was described as a mild-mannered, witty man who loved The Beatles. Daniel and Manuela claimed that Satan had ordered them to kill, so they chose Frank because he was funny and would be a perfect court jester for Satan.

The couple lured Frank to their flat on the pretense of having a party. When Frank arrived, he discovered that he was the guest of honor and the only one there. Daniel bludgeoned him on the back of his head with a hammer, then stabbed him repeatedly with a knife. Apparently, this method was inspired by the cover artwork of American death metal band Cannibal Corpse’s song Hammer Smashed Face, which consists of a skinless skull with a hammer embedded in its temple and its eyeballs protruding. After Daniel stabbed Frank sixty-six times, he and Manuela cut his veins and drained his blood before drinking it from small bowls. They laid him on top of their coffin coffee table, where Manuela usually slept.

When police broke into the flat three days later on July 9, they found Frank’s butchered body beneath a banner reading When Satan Lives. Some people believe it to be a deicide reference (the act of killing a divine being). Deicide is also an American death metal band whose lyrics cover Satanism and anti-Christianity themes; their songs have resulted in bans due to their content. There was a poster of a hanged woman in the bathroom and a collection of fake human skulls in the living room. Bloodstained scalpels were scattered around the flat.

The police also discovered a kill list with several names on it.

The Rudas were arrested on July 12 when they were in Jena in eastern Germany. They had also visited Sondershausen and Apolda in Thuringia,